Wendell's Essay

Wendell Frink

Mr. Salsich

9-English

13 May 2009

What are Transformations For?

An Essay on a Rock, a Passage, and my Life

Are transformations good or bad? Do they help you in life or are they just an annoyance [FAST]? How you look at transformations depends on whether they will help you, if the transformation is good or bad. In a passage by Rainer Maria Rilke, a garden stone, and in my life we find transformations or changes.

The great poet Rainer Maria Rilke’s words are filled with power and wisdom. Firstly, he says that “all that is good is transformation and all that is bad as well.” Change in our lives, or “transformation[s]” are an everyday part of living. Without transformations, our lives would be dull and unlivable. In addition, to gain something or reveal it, we must “intensify” our actions. We must have full participation in our actions, so you can concentrate with your entire mind. When we show we are “avid[ly] interest[ed]” in something, we can reach the essence of that item. This wonderful thinking by a wonderful poet is filled with much meaning.

My life is also filled with many transformations. First, when I switched [FAST] schools for the 8th grade year, my life "transform[ed]" drastically. I had to find new friends, receive new teachers, a new locker, and a new life [parallelism]. My daily routine was altered drastically; instead of walking to the bus each morning, I was driven to school, instead of a 350 person class, it was downsized to only 27. Also, when we grow up, we change. I am not the same person I was last year. I am taller, my voice is deeper, and I have slowly become stronger [participial phrase]. Overall, changes in my life happen all the time.

Deep inside the earth, materials go under huge transformations that create rocks. A rock used in a garden is probably many thousands of years old. Before it was formed, the rock was just magma deep in the earth, but as time passed it was shaped into this garden stone. This process took time, and much energy. Also, this rock has probably been cut off of another rock. The larger rock was transformed into “something good.” Each little rock symbolizes what the larger rock one was, large, majestic, beautiful, and everlasting [tetracolon climax]. Each transformation of materials creates majestic works of nature-rocks.

In the context of these three items, transformations are good. Without transformations we wouldn’t have the stone to walk on in the garden, without transformations our lives would be dull, and without transformations we wouldn’t meet new people and see new places [parallelism]. These transformations help you in life, and you can help transformations [antithesis]. Without transformations, what would we do?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Self Assessment:

Recently, I have been making sure my FAST words are apt. I have been going to my parents and asking them if each FAST word works with what I am saying. My sentences and paragraphs have started to flow better, but a weak point I see is that I sometimes include sentences that aren't necessary to what I am saying. I would give myself a B for this essay.